Appointments and new structure at the Secretariat

Dominique Hascher left the ICC on 1 September 1998 following his appointment to the Paris Court of Appeal. Mr Hascher is now Conseiller at the première chambre, which handles, inter alia, arbitration cases. He spent eight years at the Court's Secretariat as Deputy Secretary General and General Counsel. Following his departure, the vacant position was divided in two.

Anne Marie Whitesell was appointed Deputy Secretary General, in which capacity she will oversee the administration of the arbitration caseload by the teams and report to the Secretary General of the Court. Ms Whitesell is a US national, holds a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a doctorate from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris I). Ms Whitesell is a member of the New York bar and had joined the ICC Court's Secretariat as Counsel.

Fabien Gélinas was appointed General Counsel and will be responsible for research, development, publications and legal advice to the Court and its Secretariat. He will also act as Secretary of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration and will manage other ICC dispute resolution services, notably the ICC International Centre for Expertise. The General Counsel will also report to the Secretary General of the Court.

A Canadian national, member of the Montreal bar and former Law Clerk of the Supreme Court of Canada, Mr Gélinas holds graduate degrees from the University of Montreal and the Paris School of Diplomatic and Strategic Studies, and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He had joined the ICC as Special Counsel, Deputy Director of the ICC Centre for Expertise and Editor of the Bulletin.

At its last working session in September, the Court decided that Art. 5 of Appendix II to the ICC Rules of Arbitration will be interpreted as providing that the Secretary General may in case of absence delegate his powers under the Rules to either the General Counsel or the Deputy Secretary General.

oachim KuckenburgJ and Christopher Koch left their Counsel position at the Court's Secretariat last summer after many years spent on the administration of a caseload which has nearly doubled during their tenure. Both Counsel went back to private practice. Joachim Kuckenburg, who joined Breitenstein Meillassouse Hauser in Paris, was replaced by Detlev Kühner. Christopher Koch joined the firm Blum Manfrini Gaillard in Geneva and was replaced by Andrea E. Rusca.

A German lawyer, Mr Kühner studied law at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Lausanne and took a D.E.A. in European Law at the University of Paris II. He taught law at the Institute of Comparative Law (Paris II) as well as at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, while practicing transnational law in Paris. He is fluent in German, English and French.

Andrea E. Rusca is a graduate of the University of Neuchâtel and holds an LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center. He worked with Lalive & Budin in Geneva, was admitted to the Geneva Bar in 1995 and served as a associate with Pirenne Python Schifferli & Peter. In 1997, he worked as legal consultant at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and with Covington & Burling in Washington D.C. before joining the ICC Court's Secretariat. Mr Rusca successfully passed the New York Bar exams last August. He is fluent in Italian, French, English and Spanish.[Page5:]

ICC Court celebrates 75th anniversary

The ICC Court celebrated its 75th anniversary in Geneva last September following the ICC Geneva Business Dialogue. A veritable Who's Who of international commercial arbitration took part in the anniversary conference to reflect upon the future of arbitration. Speakers included Court Chairman Robert Briner, International Arbitration Commission Chairman Paul-A. Gélinas and former Chairman Ottoarndt Glossner, Institute of World Business Law Chairman Serge Lazareff, International Council for Commercial Arbitration President Fali S. Nariman, USCIB Arbitration Committee Chairman Gerald Aksen, most of the Court's Vice-Chairmen, Secretary General Horacio Grigera Naón, and three of his predecessors, Eric Schwartz,Stephen Bond and Yves Derains.

Looking to the past as an indicator of the future, the speakers demonstrated the drastic changes in the practice of international commercial arbitration since the early days after the Court was established in 1923. In the beginning, most users requested conciliation under the ICC Rules, and lawyers did not participate either as arbitrators or as counsel. With the growing sophistication of business and international law, preference shifted towards arbitration and the involvement of lawyers. A session on the relationship between judges and arbitrators traced the evolution from rivalry to respectful cooperation between two complementary services.

The growth of ICC Arbitration parallels that of the enormously successful New York Convention of 1958, itself originally an ICC initiative. The Convention was one of the major factors contributing to the development of arbitration as the preferred method of resolving international business disputes. Over the years business operators have come to count on ICC awards not only for quality and impartiality, but also for enforceability.

A session on arbitration and mediation launched a challenging discussion on the future of the relationship between arbitration and "softer" means [Page6:] of dispute resolution. Citing the "tombs of obsolete skills" of fletchers, sabotiers and linotypists in his concluding remarks, Lord Mustill warned that arbitrators must remain constantly aware that "arbitration is not our property, not an art form, but a tool whose existence is justified by the results obtained." Arbitrators must not only hone their skills but also adapt them to the evolving world of global business.

The proceedings of the 75th Anniversary Conference will be published as a Special Supplement to the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin.

New York Convention Day

Delegates of the 1958 United Nations Conference and other leading arbitration experts shared their unique experience and views on the working of the New York Convention during its first forty years and its likely operation during the next forty years at a special commemorative event on the fortieth anniversary of the Convention held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last June.

In his opening address, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan greeted the representatives of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, headed by its Chairman, Dr Robert Briner, stressing that the symposium would have been incomplete without ICC, for it was an ICC initiative that prompted the United Nations in 1953 to prepare an international treaty on arbitral awards.

The Secretary General further reminded the audience of his efforts to enhance ties with the private sector. "The International Chamber of Commerce understands," he said, "that business has a compelling interest in the United Nations' work for peace and development, in our technical standard-setting and in our efforts to harmonize and modernize the rules of international trade. That is why," he explained, "earlier this year, the United Nations and ICC issued a statement pledging to work jointly to expand economic opportunities worldwide and to promote investment in selected least developed countries."

Chairman Robert Briner thanked the Secretary General on behalf of ICC and went on to address the audience on the philosophy and objectives of the New York Convention. His address is reproduced in this issue. Pieter Sanders, Honorary President of ICCA and Vice-Chairman of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration, spoke on the making of the Convention. Ottoarndt Glossner, Honorary Chairman of the German Arbitration Institute, Vice Chairman of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration and Vice Chairman of the ICC Court, presented "a veteran's diary". The latter were both delegates at the 1958 Conference.